Gameplay (Cossacks 2)
Skirmish Buildings Each player starts with 10 peasants and a certain number of resources. Initially, a town hall and barracks are to be constructed to train further peasants and first infantry units, followed by a storehouse to deposit resources, and housings to maintain a higher number of units. Further, a blacksmith, academy, two kinds of stables, as well as an artillery depot can be built to train more advanced units. Economy There are 6 resources in the game, used for different purposes (see resp. link). Wood and stone are gathered using your own peasants, gathering them and depositing them at the town hall or storehouse. All other resources are usually produced in villages scattered over the map. When a player controls a village, its respective resource is transported to their nearest resource deposit building via automatically sent mule transports. These transports can be attacked and destroyed by hostile players. Military Ranged attacks Most units in the game are able to attack at range. To excert a ranged attack, the respective button showing the ranged weapon must be pressed. The firing unit will then proceed to ready their rifles/bows, take aim and eventually fire at the closest enemy unit in range. When holding the mouse pointer over that button, the effective ranges are shown: * Red: '''Enemy units within this range will certainly be hit with full damage. Trees provide no protection. * '''Yellow: '''At this range, enemy units can still be hit effectively, though with less chance to hit. Enemies standing in a wooded area have a good chance to evade fired shots. * '''Green: Firing at units within the green area will only cause a few casualties by lucky hits. Besides archers, all arnged units consume a certain amount of coal when firing. After firing, the needed amount of coal will be deducted from a player's current resources and the reloading process starts. It takes considerably longer compared to Cossacks 1 and 3, leaving a reloading formation open for return fire and cavalry attacks. If no sufficient coal resources are available, a unit cannot reload. Formations Soldiers should always be trained in large numbers and grouped into formations, which makes them more manageable. In contrary to Cossacks 1 and 3, formations can be formed without officers and drummers being needed. On the other hand, battle formations are much more important, as these enable a much more effective use of troops: * Troops can march long distances more effectively, using up less stamina using the column formation * The formation gains offensive and defensive boni which depends on the kind of formation and increase when standing ground * Line formations gain the highest boni (+40 defense when standing ground) and ranged units are able to fire row-wise. It's best when facing an enemy towards one side. * Square formations get less defense (+20 when standing ground), but defend towards all sides. Standing ground is also carried out much faster compared to the line. This one is good against cavalry attacks. Artillery Artillery units are not grouped in formations. Additionally, they must be manned by 4 soldiers. These can be killed, f.ex. by enemy snipers, and replaced by any other infantry units. Campaign mode (Battle for Europe) Back to Cossacks II: Napoleonic Wars